A woman recovering in Wellington Regional Hospital was brought to tears after spending hours in the same room as anti-mandate protesters who refused to wear masks. 

The woman who did not want to be named was in hospital at the end of last week following major surgery. 

During her recovery time, the woman said she saw a "rotating roster of visitors" visiting a person in the ward they shared, who discussed coming from the protest at Parliament grounds. 

There are currently 499 active cases in the Capital and Coast DHB. Photo / Mark Mitchell 

While she respected their views, the woman was disgusted by their lack of mask use. 

"In the hours I shared a room with this group, sometimes reaching seven or so visitors at once, I witnessed countless hospital staff ask them to wear their masks," she told the Herald. 

Despite countless reminders by staff, the woman said she never once saw the group wearing a face covering during their time at the hospital. 

"I lost count of the number of times the nurses politely asked members to wear a mask, to no avail." 

Fed up with the situation, the woman built up the strength to speak up, passing a note to a nurse asking if she could be given a mask to wear. 

"It wasn't until I was able to get enough strength and write a message to the nurse as she was kind of stopping by." 

She decided to write a note on her phone as she didn't want to be heard by the visitors. 

"It's intimidating when you are stuck to a bed." 

However, due to her recovery and situation, the nurse said she was not allowed to wear a mask. This then led the woman to burst out into tears. 

"I burst into tears, I don't know how else to express it but the helplessness in her [the nurse's] eyes," she said. 

Hutt Valley DHB and Capital & Coast DHB director of Provider Services Joy Farley said the hospital was aware of the incident. 

"The patient being visited was sharing a room with another patient who became concerned as the visitors removed their masks. 

"Ward staff spoke to these visitors twice about the need to remain masked, however it appears that the visitors removed their masks as soon as ward staff left the room. 

"Ward staff contacted our Security Orderlies, who spoke with the visitors and escorted them from the premises." 

Farley said anyone who enters hospitals under their DHB must wear a mask at all times, visitors are also provided medical masks at hospital entrances. 

Capital and Coast DHB recorded 123 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday with one person in hospital. Wednesday's cases during the total of active cases in the DHB to 499. 

The woman said she understands the need for support people during a "terrifying time" but said the group were taking advantage of the situation. 

"It's a traumatising time when you are in hospital anyway but when people just flagrantly disregard the hospital request and you could tell the hospital staff couldn't do anything because they've seen the effects of what police can't deal with at Parliament. 

"So, they know that their hands are tied so they just don't want to cause all that trouble." 

She said there were up to seven visitors at one time discussing what they had done while at the protest. 

After a number of attempts to get the visitors to leave, nurses "took to a Mallard-like" approach to let the group know visiting hours were finished. 

"It was just a very big moment of helplessness." 

After some time and a number of requests to wear a mask, the person was moved to a different ward, which meant the visitors followed. 

While it was a relief when the patient was moved, the woman said they now became a different person's issue. 

"If you are making a choice to enter an environment a hospital, bus anything where it's their rule to do something to keep safe, either choose not to use the service or following the rules," she said. 

Farley confirmed the patients were subsequently separated so that the "patient who expressed concern would feel more comfortable". 

She said there are currently no additional restrictions on visits by people who have attended the protest at Parliament. 

"However, anyone flouting our rules will either be denied access or removed from our premises – as occurred on this occasion."